


Ainda Bem

by fencingfox



Series: Song Fic Collection [5]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Song fic, Song: Ainda Bem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 09:51:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20445179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencingfox/pseuds/fencingfox
Summary: Ainda Bem (Just as Well)Some songs speak to you. They tell you what you already know. They tell you what you don't know. They tell you how to cry and how to love. They tell you what you need to hear without ever lying.





	1. She Remembers An Old Song

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DrYewll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrYewll/gifts).

> DrYewll, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ...I may have gone a little overboard with this. After I finished, I realized that each chapter could almost be a stand alone story. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Song: _Ainda Bem_ by Marisa Monte  
It's a beautiful song. I recommend listening to it on a loop. Sometimes it lines up so well with the writing. For you English speakers, don't worry about the Portuguese lyrics. There's a translation in the next chapter. c:
> 
> RATING: Explicit for sexy times in the last chapter. Chapter 3 is probably Teen and Up Audiences for boobs(?). Chapters 1 and 2 are General Audiences.

"Computer, disengage universal translation of Portuguese and Spanish in my quarters," B'Elanna asks. The computer chimes its acknowledgment. B'Elanna logs into her computer terminal, navigates to the folder she wants, scrolls down the list, and presses play on a selection: _Monte, Marissa - Ainda Bem_. She remembers the song as it drifts through her quarters softly.

_Ainda bem_  
_Que agora encontrei você_  
_ Eu realmente não sei_  
_ O que eu fiz pra merecer_  
_ Você_  
_ Porque ninguém_  
_ Dava nada por mim_  
_ Quem dava, eu não tava a fim_  
_ Até desacreditei...de mim_

Her father used to take her on his feet and dance around the living room. Her mother always watched on, smiling even. It was one of the few times she remembers her mother ever smiling.

_O meu coração_  
_Já estava acostumado_  
_ Com a solidão_  
_ Quem diria que a meu lado_  
_ Você iria ficar_  
_ Você veio pra ficar_  
_ Você que me faz feliz_  
_ Você que me faz cantar_  
_ Assim_

B'Elanna sometimes listens to these songs when she's feeling homesick or simply misses her father like she does now.

_O meu coração_  
_Já estava aposentado_  
_ Sem nenhuma ilusão_  
_ Tinha sido maltratado_  
_ Tudo se transformou_  
_ Agora você chegou_  
_ Você que me faz feliz_  
_ Você que me faz cantar_  
_ Assim_

She closes her eyes as she pretends to be that happy little girl dancing on her happy father's big feet with a happy mother watching over them. The singer vocalizes during the bridge with two heartfelt 'nananana na na na na na...' lines followed by 'a ay' at the end of each. Her door chimes. She says 'Come' without opening her eyes or looking up to see who it is. They will have to wait until the song ends.

_O meu coração_  
_Já estava acostumado_  
_ Com a solidão_  
_ Quem diria que a meu lado_  
_ Você iria ficar_  
_ Você veio pra ficar_  
_ Você que me faz feliz_  
_ Você que me faz cantar_  
_ Assim_

She feels the hairs on the back of her neck rise like she's being watched, but doesn't break her daydream. Instead, she pretends that the watcher is just her happy mother.

_O meu coração_  
_Já estava aposentado_  
_ Sem nenhuma ilusão_  
_ Tinha sido maltratado_  
_ Tudo se transformou_  
_ Agora você chegou_  
_ Você que me faz feliz_  
_ Você que me faz cantar_  
_ Assim_

The singer vocalizes again before closing the song with a soft "_Ainda Bem_".

"Just as well, hmm?" B'Elanna looks over at Tom who's leaning just inside the door, forcing the door to stay open. She feels embarrassed that anyone walking by could hear or see her listening to the song. "Anyone in particular on your mind?" He asks, clearly expecting it to be him.

"How?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets." She glares at him until he's close enough to wrap his arms around her shoulders from behind. Then she glares at her computer screen, knowing that he will see her reflection. He kisses the top of her head softly. Her face softens by the time he looks up.

"You're no magician."

"Dang." He mocks disappointment. "Thought that might work." She frowns, annoyed, at him through her computer reflection. "I took a few music classes in my youth. My instructor had a thing for Romance languages. I picked up a few phrases because she was cute."

"She must have been much older...." She shakes her head trying to dispel the image of a young Tom Paris singing to a thirty-something woman with blond hair. Her imaginary music instructor looks a little like Seven.

"Oh she was. Twenty-six I think. Doesn't matter. She thought I was cute too."

"She didn't?"

"No!" Tom's aghast. "God no! She just said that; that's all: 'you're very cute, Tom,' like you say to a younger sibling."

"I wouldn't know, I'm an only child."

"You've got Harry."

"You're right. Harry's very cute." He laughs.

"Why were you listening to that song?" He asks when he stops laughing. She shrugs. The motion jostles Tom's arms, but he keeps them where they are. His eyes skim over the other songs on her computer screen. They all have names reminiscent of Spanish or Portuguese.

"It reminds me of my dad."

"Missing him again?" He squeezes her shoulders.

"Yeah." She holds her hands up to Tom's arms in front of her. "We used to dance around the living room when I was little. I'd stand on his feet and he'd move us around. My mother liked to watch and smile."

"Smile? I thought she couldn't." B'Elanna laughs. Tom's sense of humor reminds her of her father's. She wonders briefly if he could make her mother laugh.

"Almost. That was just about the only time she did." She shrugs again. "The song just has a lot of good memories."

"Hmm. Play it again, and come here. I bet I could learn it for you. Give you some more good memories." Tom leaves her shoulders and goes to her couch then. She catches on, presses play with repeat, and sits next to Tom.


	2. Songs for the Heart

"Okay who does this remind you of?" Chakotay starts the music and it drifts through the air of the nearly empty holodeck. It starts with a four part pat, pat, clap, tambourine-shake combo that repeats only once before the acoustic guitar chimes in. They all listen carefully to the sweetly longing voice that drifts between the loaded chords. The Universal Translator easily translates one of the oldest Terran language to Standard.

_Just as well_  
_That I met you now_  
_ I really don't know_  
_ What I did to deserve_  
_ You..._  
_ Because no one_  
_ thought I was worth_  
_ The ones who did I wasn't interested_  
_ I didn't even believe...In myself!_

The air of Sandrine's seems full to bursting with the loving lyrics and the strumming of an acoustic guitar. Chakotay watches the Captain's upper body sway to the song over the table. He hears her humming. He thinks she's beautiful this way. Her hair is down; it bobs softly to her swaying, framing her face. She catches him watching and smiles at him. His heart skips a beat. _Spirits!_

_My heart_  
_Was already used_  
_ To loneliness_  
_ Who would say that next to_  
_ You would believe_  
_ You who came to stay_  
_ You who makes me happy_  
_ You who makes me sing_  
_ Like this_

He looks around the table. B'Elanna is looking lovingly into Tom's eyes. He's holding both her hands across the table and mouthing the lyrics to her like he knows them all already. He can see that B'Elanna is entranced. He silently curses himself for not having the same idea and for letting the Captain convince him into inviting the happy couple to their now double date. Spirits know he'd listened to the song enough to sing it to her by now.

_My heart was already retiring_  
_without any illusion_  
_ It had been mistreated_  
_ Everything changed_  
_ Now that you're here_  
_ You who makes me happy_  
_ You who makes me sing_  
_ Like this_

The singer vocalizes with several 'nananana na na na na na...' and an 'a ay' at the ends before it repeats, somehow stronger than the first time since the guitar picks up in volume.

_My heart_  
_Was already used_  
_ To loneliness_  
_ Who would say that next to_  
_ You would believe_  
_ You who came to stay_  
_ You who makes me happy_  
_ You who makes me sing_  
_ Like this_

Chakotay watches Kathryn close her eyes to the music. Her lips are parted slightly and he has the urge to kiss her, but he resists so that she can focus on the music. The view is good enough anyway.

_My heart was already retiring_  
_without any illusion_  
_ It had been mistreated_  
_ Everything changed_  
_ Now that you're here_  
_ You who makes me happy_  
_ You who makes me sing_  
_ Like this_

The singer vocalizes sweetly like before.

_Just as well._

When the song ends, the trance is broken. B'Elanna and Tom are both blushing. The Captain—_Kathryn_ he corrects himself—looks at him. His heart flutters in the way only she can cause it to. Oddly enough, the look is the same she give him at all hours of the day. If she knew how weak it made him, she might think twice about having him as her First Officer. Her cheeks and nose are lightly flushed. It makes him fall in love with her all over again.

"It reminds me of those two love birds over there," she teases them as she props her elbow on the table and points accusingly at B'Elanna and Tom who are still holding one hand. They all look at their clasped hands while Chakotay tries to hide his disappointment.

"Really?" He turns back to her. She nods, looking at him squarely. She lifts her drink to her lips; it's a red, cranberry something with the same color as her lips. She finishes it. He'd been hoping she'd say the two of them. But then, they are pretty new. B'Elanna and Tom are old news. If she said that the song reminded her of them, then he'd have to assume she thought of them long before they became an item. "You didn't relate to any of it? Not even the part _My heart / Was already used / To loneliness_ or _Everything changed / Now that you're here_?" He leans forward and sings the lyrics softly to her when he asks her, eyes half-lidded. When he finishes, she tilts her head slightly back and forth toward her shoulders one at a time.

"Well, I suppose they spoke to me." She smiles softly. He thinks she's guessed that he wanted her to say the song reminds her of the themselves.

"The first part spoke to me. Seska was horrible; I realize now." He looks around at the solemnly nodding heads.

"_You who came to stay / You who makes me happy / You who makes me sing / Like this_...." B'Elanna's voice breaks through their silence. Chakotay sees her bump her forehead against Tom's and rest it there. Her eyes are closed as she sings in a near perfect imitation of the singer. He's surprised she has such a nice voice. Tom kisses her sweetly before they separate. She's blushing. "I like that part best. Makes me think of you _bangwI'_," she address Tom with the last sentence.

"My turn to play a song for you, Bee." B'Elanna smiles at him. Chakotay isn't sure if it's the Captain or Kathryn who interrupts. He slyly hopes it's Kathryn for purely selfish reasons that plaster a smirk on his face.

"It's pretty late; I'd like to go to bed before Delta shift takes lunch." Tom looks a little disappointed but B'Elanna nods. The last song he played during their game was the very late Elvis Presley's _Can't Help Falling In Love_. B'Elanna said it reminded her of her and Tom: the early months. Whether she said that because she truly thought so or merely because she wants to please Tom, Chakotay wasn't sure. She has a black hole of a soft spot for Tom that he likes to jab at sometimes when she's in a good mood, which is more often now that she has Tom. His song is as sweet as Tom's was if it isn't sweeter. Yet, Chakotay still hasn't managed to get Kathryn to say a song reminds her of themselves. It's always a different couple on _Voyager_, but never them. It aggravates him to some extent. But since Chakotay is the last one in the round, it makes sense for them to stop now. He stands and helps Kathryn do the same. This, he sees with the pride of victory, isn't a move Tom thinks to do with B'Elanna.


	3. The Song is Better in Portuguese

* * *

They say 'good night' to B'Elanna and Tom outside of the holodeck and he and Kathryn begin walking down the corridor toward her quarters. She hates sleeping anywhere other than her own bed. He doesn't care where he sleeps, so long as she's next to him. They don't hold hands, but walk close enough for their shoulders to bump. Aside from Tom and B'Elanna, no one on the ship knows that they are officially together. Though, Chakotay doesn't think there's a soul on _Voyager_ who hasn't caught their long lingering touches (she's rather physical) or their too casual conversations (he likes to make her laugh). He remembers he has a bone to pick with Kathryn.

"How come not a single song I played reminded you of us?" She laughs. The songbird-like trill echoes off the corridor's bulkheads.

"_All_ of the songs reminded me of us. But I couldn't very well let Tom and B'Elanna know that." He's puzzled, but pleased regardless.

"And why not?"

"You know Tom. He'll hold it over me even though I can toss him in the brig for the rest of the trip."

"He'll make sure you marry him to B'Elanna before that happens."

"Exactly! Then he'd have no shifts and practically unlimited time for sex with my chief engineer!" Chakotay chuckles at her exasperation. If he didn't know better, he'd think that Kathryn thought about this dilemma before. Maybe she had when she first realized she was stuck on _Voyager_ in the Delta Quadrant with Tom.

"I'll be sure to hold it over you for him then." She shoots him one of her patented Captain looks. He doesn't back down. He hardly can when he knows she's ticklish and where. "You won't throw me in the brig anyway."

"You don't know that," she claims resolutely.

"I do. You won't because then," he breaks into song playfully, "_you're all alone, there's no one here beside you_"

"What is this? A musical?" _She's grumpy._ She sighs. "But you're probably right. Having Tuvok as First Officer seems like a _drag_ now compared to you."

"What? You don't have steamy romantic relationships with all of your First Officers?" She shoots him a playful smirk.

"He's married." Chakotay laughs.

"Ah, right. Damn Vulcans and their hypermonogamy."

"Careful," she laughs and then speaks softer, "he'll hear you!" They're still laughing when they reach her quarters. She bids the door permit them with her entry key. She goes to her dresser and pulls out his favorite pink, satin nightie. She looks good in anything, but she looks especially good in that one. They move through her quarters in a practiced dance. She goes to the bathroom to change and get ready for bed. He strips down to his boxers and tosses his clothes into her reclaimer, then pulls out his uniform for tomorrow from the spare drawer in her room. He smiles as he remembers the day she showed it to him. It was a good moment in a string of good moments with her. When he's all ready for tomorrow, she slips out of the bathroom and slides her hands around his waist. She kisses his back and then leans against him for a few minutes. He doesn't move away from her radiant warmth. He'd stay like this forever if she let him. _Too bad we have a ship to get home...._ He doesn't think he's more important than her mission to get home, but he doesn't mind because he knows he's the closest second.

"Computer, disable universal translators for my quarters and play _Ainda Bem._" The native Portuguese fills the air. He hears her singing along and turns around surprised.

"You speak Portuguese?" She picks up his hands and presses her palms to them. They move their hands in circles to mirror each other. _She wants to dance then?_

"I picked it up. It's a Romance language anyway." She presses herself to him and sways softly when the guitar picks up. He sways with her, then presses a step forward to guide her backwards, forwards, and sideways repeatedly. Her arms wrap loosely around his neck.

"Why?" He sees a bright gleam in her eyes.

"I was young once."

"Woah, Kathy," she smirks at the nickname and he leans his head back in a laugh. "You must have been as bad as Tom."

"Worse," she presses a kiss to his lips, "much worse." He doesn't have an answer for her. His hands slide to her waist, pulling at the satiny nightie enough for it to become taunt over her breasts. He guides their swaying as he guides their steps. He presses his cheek against hers and turns them around in a circle with the same forward, backward, left, right steps. He can tell she's enjoying herself. He spins her around suddenly and holds her tight against him by her hips. Their dance takes a sensual turn when he guides her hips in counter-rhythm to his own. She sighs and leans into him. He smiles against her hair, breathes in her sweet scent, and kisses her ear. She brings an arm up and behind his head. They sway a few times in sync that way before he spins her around again and holds her to one side.

On the slower chorus, he has a hand in front of his chest holding hers and another outstretched in front of hers. He walks them in a circle, watching her intently. Then he switches which side he stands next to her at and walks them in that circle. He grasps her with the hand near his chest and releases the other to spin her away from him. She delights with a sound of pleasure that's better music to his ears than the music playing. He brings her back to him so that she's facing away. When she lands against his chest, he kisses the back of her neck. Her hair had twirled out and landed over her shoulder so he has unrestricted access. She shudders when he kisses a sensitive spot just at the hem of her nightie.

As the vocalist sings her last 'nananana na na na na na', he turns his Kathryn around and holds her with one arm at the small of her back. She takes the cue and leans over it backwards, jutting out a leg to hold her balance. He smiles and kisses up her chest from mid stomach, between her breasts, up her throat, on her chin, and finally places his lips squarely on hers. He kisses her deeply as he pulls her back up and against him. The song finishes when they part. Or they part when the song finishes. _Who's to say what causes the other?_

"It's much better in the original, huh?" He asks as he takes in her flushed cheeks and swells with pride. _I'm a damned good dancer. Bet Tom can't do that._ She nods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Convince me this isn't old and gray and very much in love Chakotay and Kathryn. (You won't. c:)  
[look at that kiss wowoowow](https://youtu.be/Unt5k3vvN6U?t=69)


	4. They Play Their Song Together

B'Elanna and Tom walk to B'Elanna's quarters hand in hand. It's the first time B'Elanna lets him hold her hand in public for so long. Tom can hardly talk. He nods to B'Elanna's offers for a replicator dinner tomorrow and lunch in the mess hall two days after that. All he can think about it her small, warm hand in his. He feels so elated, he wants to skip. But he highly doubts B'Elanna would tolerate skipping down the corridors of _Voyager_. He chuffs. 

"What's funny?" He smiles knowingly. 

"Oh, nothing. A funny image I had just now." 

"What was it? I'd like to laugh too," she pleads. 

"Oh, all right," he casts a sideways look down at his favorite engineer, "since you asked so _nicely_. I'm so glad you're letting me hold your hand," he lifts their hands together between them, "for so long. Feel so happy that I want to skip down the corridors of _Voyager_, but I don't think you'd take too kindly to that. The image of us skipping made me laugh, Bee." A thought occurs to him. "Do Klingons skip?" She smirks, stops, pulls her hand from his (Tom laments silently, _why?_), and takes to skipping down the corridors of _Voyager_. 

...Only, she's not actually skipping. Not in any way that Tom recognizes. She's more like galloping, but with heavy feet like she's stamping out a rampant fire. He imagines he feels _Voyager_ shudder to her stomps. Before he realizes what he's doing, Tom doubles over in laugher. 

"That's not skipping!" He calls out to her between laughing fits. B'Elanna stops her "skipping" and stomps back to Tom in a close imitation of it, embarrassed and tomato red. 

"Alright, Hotshot," she spits, "show me how it's done." She crosses her arms in front of her and cocks her hip to the side defiantly in front of him. Tom manages to recover from his laughing fit. He takes some deep breaths while looking up at the ceiling and wipes the tears from his eyes. _That was just too funny. I wish I recorded it._ He grabs her hand from under her breasts and starts walking. She drags her feet a little before she realizes she needs to move or else Tom _will_ drag her. 

"Skipping is much lighter than whatever it was that you were doing." She huffs next to him. "You're pretty much walking but you hop on each foot along the way." He starts skipping down the corridor, dragging her along with him. She runs to keep up until she catches his rhythm. After a few more paces, she skips with him. They stop outside her quarters, laughing. She palms the door key to open her quarters. Tom talks behind her. "And unless you want to kill someone with laughter, do _that_ the next time someone asks you if Klingons can skip." She shakes her head at him and calls for half illumination. He goes quiet suddenly. _Half illumination means she's in a mood...._ She turns around to see him smirking at her. 

"Computer, play _Ainda Bem_," B'Elanna demands. She pulls Tom to her bedroom as the intro drifts through her quarters, touching everything in sight. 

"Did you tell Chakotay about our song?" She shakes her head at Tom. 

"No, of course not." He presses against her, kissing her from her jaw to her ear and down her neck. She hears him sing whisper-soft with the music between kisses: _I really don't know what I did to deserve / You... / Because no one thought I was worth / The ones who did I wasn't interested._ The memory of how it became their song drifts back to her on his lyrics, making her smile. She takes his mouth with hers. Her fingers drift under his tunic, sliding it up. They break the kiss only long enough for her to slip his shirt over his head. They crash together before she throws it away. Her fingers tangle with the coarse hair on his chest. He moans into their kiss when she pulls at his hair by rubbing her hands up his body firmly. They break again for him to take her dress off her. He pops the bra off her with a single hand when they come back together. She pulls it from between them and tosses it aside. Tom presses her close to him. Her hands are pinned between them. Her breasts are pushed up against him sweetly. They part for air and she sings softly to Tom as he slowly pushes her back to her bed—_their bed practically,_ she thinks given how often he shared it with her. 

"_You who came to stay / You who makes me happy / You who makes me sing / Like this_." She falls to the bed in a heap, interrupting her singing. She gasps when Tom takes a nipple into his mouth and sucks lightly. She tells the song with a moan how well her _bangwI'_ treats her when he takes to softly nibbling her nipple and breast. 

He smiles against her skin and kisses his way to her other breast to treat it the same. He delights in her squirming. It helps his penis to hardness twitch by twitch. He grinds back when she grinds up against him. He feels that her underwear is wet against the skin on his stomach and groans. 

B'Elanna feels his groan reverberate through her chest from its location on her breast. It gives her goosebumps. She fumbles with the button and zipper on his pants. When she gets them undone, he leans away from her (she laments, _no, you were keeping me warm!_). She sees him push his pants and boxers down his legs and kick them over the bottom edge of the bed. B'Elanna feels Tom's fingers seek her center out through the fabric of her underwear. She sighs knowing that this is one of the sometimes where Tom will bring her over the edge through the thin cloth. 

Tom takes pride in his writhing girlfriend as he rubs small circles to her clitoris through her underwear. He sees that her eyes are closed and her lips are parted some. He kisses her deeply, surprising her into a moan, without stopping his thumb's slow circles on her center. If anything, his thumb moves to the rhythm of the kiss which in turn borrows its rhythm from the song overhead. He likes that B'Elanna's moans are as musical as the singer's 'nananana na na na na na...' vocalizations. He feels her thighs clench as she pushes up to meet his thumb. Tom breaks the kiss to watch her come, feeling pleased with himself for timing it so well to the end of the song. Her eyes are still closed, but her mouth sings out a whisper-soft, "just as well, Tom." He pulls his thumb away and kisses her as the song closes to leave them in the silence of their breathing and heartbeats. 

When the song is silent for a few minutes, Tom pulls away to remove B'Elanna's underwear from her body and toss it aside into the dim room. She looks at him with sultry eyes and he can't resist kissing up her neck to her lips. When he reaches her lips, he carefully thrusts into her. Their mouths swallow their shared moans. Her tight walls massage him gently, pleasantly. Tom pulls away from the kiss to move in and out of her. He likes to watch the emotions flit across her features. 

B'Elanna feels Tom begin to work up speed. Just when she feels herself close, he pulls back, slowing and dropping to kiss her briefly before picking up pace again. The back and forth keeps her on her toes. She doesn't know how he manages to do this so well. _Maybe he is a magician after all...._ The thought drifts across her mind as she arches her back into his chest, having finally been allowed to reach her peak. She moans his name softly as the wave pulls at her consciousness greedily. She can't help but be dragged down into its warm embrace. She distantly feels him shudder against her and then collapse onto her chest. The weight brings her back to reality. He's breathing heavily. She can feel his heart thump against her chest. She runs fingers through his sweaty and soft hair. 

"I love you," she whispers. 

"I love you more."


End file.
